From David Bowie's swan song to Beyonce's call to arms, Anohni's war lament to Frank Ocean's return, 2016 was a year of big artists making big statements. These are our picks for the best songs of the year.

Featuring David Bowie’s haunting last rites, a Parisian revolution, an all-powerful Beyoncé, a dancing robot, a weeping Naomi Campbell, a kid from “Stranger Things,” a bunch of sheep in a gym, and more

World weary rap courtesy of Vince Staples and Future. Vulnerable folk from Joanna Newsom and Sufjan Stevens. Thundercat and Kamasi Washington’s astral musings. The welcomed comebacks of Dr. Dre and Sleater-Kinney. All of that and more makes up our Top 50 albums of the year.

From Drake’s dominance to Adele’s return, Tame Impala’s blissful psych to Kendrick Lamar’s politically charged hip-hop, 2015 marked another diverse and strong year for music. These are our picks for the best songs of the year.

A collection of our favorite quotables from the interviews we did this year, including Madonna on modern loneliness, Earl Sweatshirt on proverbs, Bradford Cox on dogs, Jamie xx on (not) smoking weed, Sufjan Stevens on God, and much more.

Jenn Pelly meets up with the Norwegian art-pop disrupter at the Museum of Sex in Manhattan to talk about the frightening aspects of our own bodies, the importance of revolution in an era of passivity, and how her music is like the inverse of cock rock.

This experimental singer/songwriter from Norway makes provocative music that deals with gender and sexuality in startlingly direct terms. Jenn Pelly talks with her about resisting nostalgia, fallible feminism, and Paris Hilton's sex tape.